Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven (Parents' and Teachers' Guides, 11)

I bought this book five years ago when my first kid was born. I didn't enjoy at first, as it was providing detailed interactions between the parents and two trilingual kids. I also didn't find any other bilingual books that give enough of hand-on information so I started my own journey of raising bilingual kids anyways.Fast forward five years later, when I am contemplating the next goal for my older kid, I stumbled upon a blogger's post quoting Dr. Wang. I digged up Dr. Wang's book and was so glad I didn't donate the book away. She shared her story with the intent of helping other parents to reflect on their own, which is actually very brilliant. Raising multilingal kids is a very individual experience (or lifestyle choice). There is no universal quick tips for over a decade of childbearing. Dr. Wang also emphasizes that parenting belief and positive interaction are very critical to the experience of raising multilingual kids, while most books narrowly focus on resources or benefits (of raising multilingual kids).As parent of Chinese heritage speaker, I am intrigued that Dr. Wang's kids didn't start the formal literacy/writing class until 7/9 year-old, which is a unique decision contradicting to most of the heritage families on the internet. It makes a lot of sense to me and I am glad to hear that you don't have to rush to teach all the reading/writing before they acquire the literacy of the community language. 條條大路通羅馬 ;)Thank you Dr. Wang for this amazing book!

Like the author, I grew up in Asia and had learned Chinese while in school. I was curious how I could introduce the Chinese language to my little one and keep his interest in the language through the years. I asked a few Asian American friends who attended weekend Chinese schools while growing up. It was good to know, from this book, how a well educated family does it and the struggles both parents have at times. After reading the book, I decided that I need to be very practical with my child's language learning, given our family situation. And setting no expectation is probably the way for me to go. Anything above no expectation would be a bonus then. That said, I know that I would still try my best to pique my child's interest in the language, so I'm glad I picked up this book to get a broader perspective.

This tells the story of one family whose two boys learned three languages simultaneously. We can find many books about bilingualism, but very few people have written a book about trilingualism. For once, it is written by a researcher and gives accessible info about what it is to raise trilingual kids. I didn't have the feeling that the author's children are super bright or well above average. I felt that the parents were well prepared and organized and this is this info that I was looking for. How, as a parent, can I raise my kids in 3 languages on a daily basis? The book answered my questions. No, she doesn't mention situations that other multilingual families have experienced: instead she went in great details about her own family and this is what I needed. Very good book , highly recommended.

This book is great. I'm very happy I bought it. We are trying to teach French and Spanish to our son while living in the US. It's been difficult and sometimes we felt like giving up and it's great to have somewhat of a guide and example to show us that it can work and get better.

Finally! A book that addresses the unique experiences of raising your children as polyglots. The author presents the information in an honest and sincere manner. The author presents her research and then follows up with her parental experience. That was very helpful. She directly addresses the frustrating myths of multilingualism that we confront and the ignorance of mostly well-meaning parents and educators who do not understand some of the unique complexities of raising children who are multilingual. This is an excellent book for parents and educators who want to understand multilingual families.

I am happy to find such a detailed reflection about the education of trilingual children. While at times it can be a bit academic (more about the definition of trilingualism than we cared for), the book is very detailed and enriched with personal experiences and observations of the author's own children. Wonderful resource.

I think this is a MUST read for anyone trying to raise trilingual children. Very thorough, well written and with a lot of practical advice. I enjoyed this book very much!

This book is very nice, bringing a perspective backed by examples & self study.It's a must read if you plan to raise kids as trilingual

I bought this book because we are raising our daughter with three languages. The topic is close to my heart. I thought I could learn from someone that is researching “multilingual families” and raising her children multilingual. However, it was more written in a diary basis, and educational book. After reading her book, I feel like I know a lot about her family and what she has done, but not necessarily the abstract layer of multilingual parenting.

Yes as previous reviewers have said it is written in an academic style as a research project but it is very easy to read and is a good guide if you are trying to raise children with three languages. There are very little materials on the subject (and many people forget or don't know but raising trilingual children is very different from raising bilingual children). The author described her own family and the progress of her own children. Not all her methods are practical depending on your circusmtances and her children look quite gifted (mine were nowhere close to hers in terms of progress at the same age!) so don't give up because of that! She says herself that this book is intended as a guide, an example of certain methods that were successfull in a particular set of circumstances and it is not a "what you must do to succeed book". I am raising children with English, French and Hebrew and this book has been extremely useful. It gives ideas, helps you set realistic targets and explains the challenges at each stage. I highly recommend to any parent who are told that "anyway kids always chose one language", "they will maybe understand but they always reach an age where they refuse to speak one particular language" etc. It requires efforts and commitment from the parents and it is not an easy journey but it is possible and this book will help you. Don't listen to the ones who failed and tell you it will never work. Good luck!

There is not much choice in books about kids in a tree languages environment.It has a lot of good advices and a very academic approach to it. This academic style was a bit boring for me to read with a lot of repetitions, but my wife like that kind of approach, so i suppose it depend on you.I liked the real life examples and explanations of the exchanges.She give different options other that what she did, which is also good because their situation is a bit too perfect with a parent always home.If you plan to raise a child in a 3 languages environment, this books gives you definitely a good base on what to do and what to expect.

The author of the book is the mother of two trilingual children, speaking Chinese Cantonese, French and English. She is also a university professor, in the humanist field.Being a scientist, she recorded interviews of her children every month for 11 years. Sometimes the details she explains are a bit geeky (e. G. Statistics of how frequently her husband uses kind words), but overall the text is an useful and important read. Moreover, the text is full of references to peer reviewed papers and other resources.

The book is a well referenced, well written testimonial of a 11 year long study that an academic linguist mom did on her two kids. The text is indeed written as a scientific study, and often quotes the most authoritative sources in the field. In this sense, it is also informative of the most important bibliography on bilinguism.The book provides little field guidance (it's not a step-by-step guide) but it does explain very clearly on what pillars linguistic proficiency is based and how to develop this proficiency as a child grows. The experience that the author lived with her kids is used as a base to deliver insights which may be valid for other families. There are many context and time specific advices and strategies which are strenghtened with plenty of sound scientific grounding that could be very useful to parents and that I will surely apply in the future with my sons.This said, the book requires some thinking on the parents side to put the theory and examples in practice. The author does a good job in providing more than enough material to take it a step further and adopting the techniques and practices they might like the most in their personal family communication pattern, so the text can still be very useful.If you're looking for a guide with very clear advice on what to do and when, something "ready-to-use", this isn't the book for you.If you would like to understand more about bilinguism and trilinguism, rather than just refer to a set of instructions, this could be one of the reads to add to your list.In any case, I suggest to read other texts along this one as some more practical advice might really come in handy.